Box Office Update: ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ Breaks Records

In yesterday's Box Office Report, we brought you the news of 'Men in Black 3's disappointing weekend gross and wondered if a Memorial Day audience would rescue it. Well...no. It's looking like Will Smith's grand return has officially landed with a thud. Sure, $70 million across four days may sound like a lot, but it's not, especially for a film that cost $230 million before the advertising costs.

While 'Men in Black 3' underperformed, a small film from a critically adored filmmaker made a special kind of splash. In fact, Wes Anderson's 'Moonrise Kingdom' broke a box office record.

Despite only opening in four theaters, 'Moonrise Kingdom' grossed a staggering $523,000 over the weekend. It's Memorial Day totals are expected to bring it to $669,000. That's an average of $130,752 per theater, the biggest per-theater average ever for a live action film, edging out the $126,316 average of 2006's 'Dreamgirls.'

Although it holds the live action record, 'Moonrise Kingdom' is number nine on the overall chart, far below eight animated films (which tend to have high per theater averages, it seems). The number one spot is currently held by 'The Lion King' with $793,377 per theater. 'Pocahontas' is a distant number two with $448,285 per theater.

To put all of this in perspective, 'Men in Black 3' averaged only $12,947 per theater, roughly 10% of 'Moonrise Kingdom's average. Although Will Smith's 4,248 theaters and $70 million take look like big numbers, they are actually far less impressive than Wes Anderson's $669,000. Such is the way of Hollywood.